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“No, I’m not. I promise. Give your cousin a hug.” His arms beckoned her.
“Fine.” Luna surrendered to his embrace, and he held her tight…almost too tight. Like a death grip. “Ross?” She realized the whole thing had been a trap once her hands reached his back, discovering his T-shirt soaked through with sweat. “Ross! Gross! Get off me, weirdo!”
She pushed him away. “You’re disgusting. I don’t know how Mia stands you.”
He grinned. “Oh, trust me. Mia loves me hard.”
“Ew. And now you know why I was so eager to move out. Good riddance to both of you. If it wasn’t for a very cute baby on the way, you’d probably never see me again. Thanks for the help.”
“You know I’d always help you.”
“And I know you don’t really think I’m a brat.”
Ross brought his pointer finger and thumb together until there was a small gap between them. “You’re a little bit of a brat. I just don’t want you getting into trouble because of it.”
Her bottom lip pushed into a pout as she feigned hurt. “I don’t know what you mean. When have I ever gotten myself into trouble that I couldn’t get out of?”
“Uh-huh. Well, you got the confidence at least, I’ll give you that.” He tapped the stack of boxes supporting him. “All right, I need to take a shower. I stink. You definitely shouldn’t hug me. Let me know if you need anything else.” He took his leave.
The apartment was quiet.
She was alone.
Chapter Seven
One of thelatches was loose on Sam’s toolbox. When he lifted it, the bottom flipped apart, sending his tools scattering across the pavement.
“Goddammit.”
“Oooooh, Sam.” Zabe clucked her tongue while shaking her head. “You have a language problem.” She bent beside him, helping him collect the fallen items. “Anyway, as I was saying, I’m going to ask Nicholas if I can dog walk for him sometimes. Do you think it’ll be enough for my dad to see that I can take care of a dog?”
It was best for Sam to stay as far away from this debate as possible. Jason was the one who paid the rent, but, on the other hand, Zabe was his little buddy. It was a lose-lose situation. “I don’t know. But it would be a nice thing to do for Nicholas.”
Nicholas was an elderly man who never stopped coughing when he took a walk around the patio. As far as Sam was aware, the man didn’t have any family, at least none that visited him. Nor did the retired engineer seem to do much. It was as though Nicholas was waiting for life to be done with him. Sam worried this was a premonition into his own future and made sure to spend a few moments talking with him whenever the older gentleman milled around the patio with Luna the Chihuahua.
“I want the biggest dog I can get. Would that be a German shepherd?”
Uh-oh.Perhaps Sam should step in. “Why would you want to squeeze a giant dog into a tiny apartment? If you get a dog that’s Luna’s size then the apartment is going to feel huge to them, as if they’re living in a mansion.”
With the toolbox packed, Sam climbed the stairs with Zabe following behind him. The bathroom faucet in apartment number eight needed fixing.
“Huh. I never thought about that before. In that case, what’s the smallest dog I can get? Oh, the new girl moved in last weekend—Luna Number Two. Did you see?”
“Yup.” Sam couldn’t help but notice every time she moved around. He was already growing familiar with her daily routine.
“Oh! She’s at the window. Hello, Luna!” Zabe waved enthusiastically.
There she was, as clear as can be, which was surprising because the dining room window, where Luna was perched on a stepladder inside her apartment, was extra clean instead of the usual layer of dust. Yup, still pretty. She gave a wave to Zabe but ignored Sam completely.
“What’s she doing?”
The kid had asked a good question. He stood at the top of the stairs, head tilting. Was she putting in new blinds? The old plastic Venetians were gone and she had a drill in her hand, installing something on the inside of the window frame.
This was not okay.
His job, keeping this place cobbled together, was already hard enough. The last thing he needed was to fix someone’s shitty DIY project. These days, Pinterest made everyone think they could accomplish any home project with a hammer and glue gun.
Forgetting about his task in apartment eight, Sam marched to the closed dining room window and tapped on the glass. “Hey! You can’t do that.”
